Birthdays galore!

Wow...I don't even know where to begin! Owen's 3rd birthday weekend was just awesome. Our families drove into town on Friday...and when I say 'our families' I mean Gran, Pop, Uncle Minor, Aunt Mimi, Gi Gi, Granddad, and Uncle Jon! Despite bad weather (for Gi Gi) and knee surgery (for Pop), the whole gang made it to Nashville, just as we'd hoped. Everyone came to our house Friday night to catch up, eat black bean soup, and prepare for the big event. We woke up and ate powdered donuts (Owen's favorite!) on Saturday morning, and then it was time for the party!

We had hoped to have Owen's party at a really fun playground down the road. However, it was a very dreary day--the high was only 49--so we opted to host the party at our house instead. Almost everyone we invited was able to come, and we had a house full of friends and family. Owen had so much fun playing with Liam, Dylan, Izze, Tallulah, Mary Frances, Ava, Gillian, and Juniper. We ate sandwiches and cupcakes and just enjoyed watching the kids run around and play with Owen's presents......which included:

several costumes...the Human Torch, Captain America, a ninja, Darth Vader, a construction worker, and a cowboy hat

various sports-related toys, including a basketball goal!
Plus, more awesome Spiderman goodies (pajamas, dishes, coloring books, a web shooter!)
and more things than I could possible name!

After the party was over and Owen was napping, Richie and I felt so much happiness and love. We have so many wonderful friends who went out of their way to make Owen's birthday fun and memorable. It is such a good feeling to know that we are in the right city, with the right people, making our lives here in Nashville.

The Listers had to head back to SC on Saturday afternoon, and my family headed out on Sunday after a delicious brunch at Marche'.

I'll have one Aunt Mimi hug with a side of spoiled rotten, please.

My birthday weekend was just as wonderful, with lots of friends helping me celebrate another year. But since this blog is really about Owen, I'll just wrap up by posting this....

even Yoda would have loved this little Vader!

THREE!

Happy 3rd birthday, to my sweet, funny, sporty, huggy and kissy little honey!

Thank you for the best 3 years imaginable!

Halloween!

This was definitely a Halloween to remember! Owen's daycare had a Halloween party on Friday, and they must have really talked it up to the kids. Every day last week he asked if he could go to the Halloween party or go trick-or-treating to get some candy. The weekend before Halloween, we were invited to the Conrans' to decorate pumpkins. Below is Owen's beautiful red and blue (hmm, what superhero do you know of that has a red and blue suit?) glitterty pumpkin...

and here is Richie with his masterpiece!

We roasted pumpkin seeds the next day, which was a truly disgusting experience. I didn't really enjoy digging through the slimy pumpkin innerds, but the smell of seeds roasting in the oven more than made up for it!

On Halloween night, Owen and I went trick-or-treating for about an hour. We met some of our neighbors and got a good bit of candy, plus a cool pencil. Owen loved banging on the doors and saying "Trick-or-treat!" He even said 'thank you' without being reminded!

Saturday, we met Holly and Dylan at the Litton School playground, which is where Owen's birthday party is going to be in just a couple of weeks. There was a slight issue with some, um, feces in the tunnel, but the boys were pretty happy trying to go up the slide together.

And in case you are wondering...

...I was a strawberry cupcake for Halloween, and Richie was a zombie nerd (hopefully I can find a picture to post).

Weekend with family and friends

The air was a bit chilly in Nashville this past weekend, but it wasn't cool enough to keep us indoors. Here's a brief rundown of the weekend's events:

Saturday morning, Owen and I met my cousin Allison and her adorable daughter Mary Frances at the zoo. Owen specifically requested to go see the zebras...so once we made it to the zebras, we stopped to hang out with them for a while.

Upon arriving at the giraffes, Owen was kind enough to point out, rather loudly, that one of the giraffes was peeing. Gotta love little boys. :)

Sharing a sweet hug, despite the giraffe pee in the background

Sunday afternoon, we went on a family outing with the Conrans and the Cassells to the pumpkin patch at Walden Farm. None of the boys had a proper nap, so getting them to pose for a group picture was just simply not happening...

Getting them to pose with during the Conrans' family picture worked out a little better!

Walden Farm has lots of activities for the kids--face painting, sand art, a primitive water well, a petting zoo, hayrides...Owen and Dylan thought the chickens were a particular highlight...

The pumpkin patch closed early on Sunday, so we didn't have enough time for a hayride or picking any pumpkins out. We did devote a good chunk of time to the hay maze. Owen saw a large decorative spider web and really just wanted to stay inside the hay maze checking it out. We finally managed to get a family picture, though...FINALLY! :)

The Listers
October 2008

He's got the blues

A couple of days ago, Richie was playing around on the piano. Owen started singing along and before we knew it, he had worked himself up over this song. He put so much energy and excitement into singing...he must be a Lister or something. Watch at the end...it's like he is overcome with the music and runs to the bass guitar. Richie and I were both overwhelmed by Owen's natural ability to sing and the enthusiasm he has always had for music. Enjoy!

I was tagged!

So my friend Callie tagged me! The instructions were to open my pictures folder, then open the sixth folder and post the sixth picture. And here you have it...

January 2005: Gwyn, Richie and Jeremy

I threw Richie a surprise rollerskating party at the Madison Skate Center. We had so much fun, and it was one of the few surprises I've ever been able to pull on Richie. One of the high points of the night was getting to hang out with the Conrans for the first time. Not that they were regulars at the skating rink or anything...they came to the party with our friend Sunny. :)

So on that note, I think I am now supposed to tag someone else to do this little project. And since I only know 2 other people besides Callie who read this and have their own blog, I tag Maggie and Genny! I feel like an official blogger now!

hopefully callie won't mind...

But I just had to post this most adorable picture of Owen from our visit the other day. See more at her blog!